Newspaper coverage can have a positive or negative impact on the image of an individual. This study examined the framing of Amanda Knox in newspapers published worldwide during the 4 years Knox was imprisoned in Italy. An American foreign exchange student, Knox was studying in Italy when her roommate was murdered. A content analysis of 500 major world newspapers was conducted. The study’s purpose was to determine the tone, story placement, and page placement of each mention of Amanda Knox. Newspaper articles associated with the topic were retrieved from the LexisNexis database and analyzed. The results showed that mentions of Amanda Knox were more negative in the United Kingdom and Ireland (25.9%). Story placement of Amanda Knox was more prominent in newspapers of Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, South Korea, and China. Page placement of Amanda Knox mentions was more prominent in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, South Korea, and China (14%).

Researcher conducted a content analysis in order to examine how the media framed Julian Assange after the Ecuadorian government granted him political asylum at their embassy in London on August 16, 2012. Researchers compared 380 English and Spanish language newspaper articles from North America, Europe, Australia/New Zealand, Asia, and Latin America to examine regional differences in the way Assange was framed. This study revealed that generally the tone toward Assange was mostly neutral or positive in all continents. Furthermore, European media gave more attention to Julian Assange than did media from North America or other continents. Exploratory research revealed that English language newspapers placed Julian Assange in headlines more frequently than Spanish language sources. Interestingly, even when Assange’s participation in the publication of secret documents affected many different countries, he was not given page prominence in newspapers.

Content analysis is a systematic research method for examining symbolical content in communication by recording or transcribing these messages into categories. Reliability is one of the most distinctive attributes of content analysis methodology comparing to other techniques in communication. A content analysis was conducted by analyzing the method sections of published journal articles in Communication Abstracts from January 2006 through January 2011 by searching "advertising" and "content analysis". Results suggested that television is still the most focused medium in advertising content analysis research. Most of the content analysis studies employed 2 coders for coding reliability assessment data and final data. Moreover, content analysis researchers had improved in reporting reliability and reliability coefficients. However, there was a low percentage of studies that reported specific reliability for each variable as well as the lowest acceptable level for the reliability coefficients.

Researchers conducted a content analysis to measure framing of the public relations industry in 354 English language broadcast transcripts from the United States, Canada, and Australia from Sept. 1, 2009 to Aug. 31, 2010. The overall tone toward public relations was strongly negative. Mentions reflected one-way forms of communication and mentions of the pejorative term "PR" appeared more frequently than mentions of "public relations". The profession was almost always mentioned within the body of the broadcast, as opposed to the headline or the lead paragraph. Exploratory research showed 15 shows that included negative mentions 100% of the time. Additionally, 27 shows included zero positive mentions of either term. Of 251 speakers recorded during data analysis, 126 spoke of the industry negatively 100% of the time. American shows were most often negative. Stories about the public relations industry were most likely to reflect public relations as a two-way form of communication.

The so-called family-viewing hour, the eight to nine o’clock hour of prime time, is one of the most watched hours of television by both adults and children. Advertisers, of course, favor shows that draw large audiences so their product presentations or commercials are witnessed by masses of people. Now, because of videocassette recorders and other similar control devices, viewers are eliminating commercials from their viewing experience1 and advertisers are clamoring for new ways to get their products into the mind of the consumer.2 To counteract this commercial avoidance by consumers, advertisers are embedding products within television programming thereby hindering the viewer’s ability to eliminate commercials or product promotions. The result is that products that are normally not viewed become part of the viewing experience. This study revealed that the family-viewing hour is laden with product placements that include a variety of different types of products and brands.

Seventy-five directors of the Institutes of Religion of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in California, responded to a questionnaire regarding their public relations' practices. Institute directors with formal training in public relations utilized more practices, an average of 30.4, than directors without formal training who used an average of 26.9 practices. Institute directors in different locations (divisions) did not differ in the average number of practices used. Seventeen percent of the directors had structured public relations' programs. Directors emphasized more frequently public relations practices relating to priesthood leaders (72 percent) and students (67 percent) than practices relating to parents (33 percent) and campus leaders (33 percent).

This study was an attempt to determine to what extent personal contacts, as a part of student recruitment, acquainted high school seniors of 1958 with Brigham Young University and influenced them in their enrollment. Opinions of college freshmen who were graduated from high schools visited by a B.Y.U. public relations representative were elicited by mail questionnaire. Respondents were asked to list the means through which they became "acquainted" with the University. They were also asked to list what "influenced" them to attend. Personal contacts by a public relations representative were considered among various means of "acquaintance" and "influence" of a public relations nature to provide relative comparison. A specific question also asked whether a visit by the public relations representative influenced students to enroll at B.Y.U. Accompanying the areas inviting opinions on means of "acquaintance" and of "influence" was an area inviting free response regarding what the students "reasons" were for enrolling. It was recognized that "reasons" for attending an institution are not necessarily attributed to the source of "acquaintance" or the source of "influence." "Reasons," it was recognized, were likely to be attributed to institutional characteristics established by ideals, objectives, location, course offerings, and others. A series of questions were included to determine students' opinions on whether a college representative could provide assistance toward college orientation of high school students, and whether he could provide assistance, in addition to orientation given by high school guidance personnel and a class unit of college orientation.

The purpose of this research is to identify best practices for public relations professionals when engaging with a Millennial performing arts audience, focusing on Hon and Grunig's relationship management theory (1999) and Kent and Taylor’s theory of dialogic communication (2014) to build interactivity in a digital space. Performing arts organizations have successfully engaged with previous generations, but are facing new challenges when communicating with millennial audiences. Changing demographics have led to a stagnation and decline of performing arts attendance as the millennial generation has come of age. This massive population has new priorities for spending and consumption of entertainment, and social media is their preferred channel of communication as opposed to print and broadcast media. The researcher distributed a survey to patrons of the Orlando Shakespeare theatre to identify their perspectives of current public relations practices. Results from 148 respondents indicated that the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre maintains strong relationships with Millennials (N=6) and non-Millennials alike, as made evident by their practice of Baumgarth's cultural consumer behaviors (2014). However, a larger sample of Millennial patrons is necessary to determine best practices for the specific population. The primary product of this research is the creation of a theory-driven survey that can be used to effectively measure the depth of a performing arts organization's relationship with its patrons, and a case study exemplifying a successful organization.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, how society responds to sexual misconduct allegations has greatly changed. It has had an effect on policy from the federal to the organizational level. Looking at overarching changes that came about after the movement is one thing but taking a look at consequences brought upon certain individuals who had allegations put against them is another. This thesis explores public relations (PR) strategies executed by prominent individuals in the film industry and their publicity teams following sexual misconduct accusations. PR at its core is about relationship management. So, this line of thought leads one to believe that college-aged students are more willing to forgive prominent figures for alleged problematic actions if the individual had a higher investment in their relationship management practices. Four case studies of actors and directors who had misconduct allegations brought against them during the peak of the #MeToo movement were analyzed and compared based on how their reputation stands today. This is important because the consequences faced by these individuals can be greatly influenced by perception and not the analysis of the actual situation. The findings of this study showed that with greater awareness of the actual claims put against a person, the more likely college-aged people are to perceive individuals negatively.

Three studies were conducted to investigate how social media affordances influence individuals’ source credibility perceptions in risk situations. The MAIN model (Sundar, 2008), warranting theory (Walther & Parks, 2002), and signaling theory (Donath, 1999) served as the theoretical framework to examine the effects of bandwagon cues and identity cues embedded in retweets and users’ profile pages for health and risk online information processing. Study One examines whether bandwagon heuristics triggered by retweets would influence individuals’ source credibility judgments. Study Two investigates how bandwagon heuristics interact with different identity heuristics in credibility heuristics on an individual level. Study Three explores bandwagon heuristics at the organizational level. Three post-test only experiments with self-report online surveys were conducted to investigate the hypothesis and research questions. Results indicate that different online heuristic cues impact the judgments of competence, goodwill, and trustworthiness at different levels. Authority strongly influenced source credibility perceptions. A reverse-bandwagon effect was observed in influencing source credibility judgments. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.